Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Trainspotting (1996)

“Choose
life... But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose
life. I chose somethin' else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs
reasons when you've got heroin?”

I
remember when I worked at Best Buy years ago seeing Trainspotting on DVD. I guess when I was working there it had just
come out on DVD. I remember the cover because it was just weird. I was like
what is up with that girl and, really is that Ewan McGregor? I realized not
that long ago that the girl on the cover is Kelly Macdonald and I adore her so I
figured why not give it a try for her as well as the fact that I like all kinds
of movies now. I had no idea what Trainspotting
was about until I started watching it and… wow.

Renton
(McGregor) and his friends Sick Boy (Johnny Lee Miller) and Spud are heroin
addicts. Renton decides to kick his habit but then falls right back into it and
so does Sick Boy who also tried to quit. They all go to this shabby place and
hit up for, what to them, feels like hours. Renton winds up overdosing one
time. His parents lock him in his room to let the drugs work out of his system.

Renton
decides to move to London to get away from Scotland and the drug scene he
knows. He gets a job and is happy for a while until Sick Boy and a guy named
Begbie come around and stay with him. One of their friends back in Scotland
dies from drugs. Once again home, Renton falls back into his old habits. With
Begbie, Sick Boy, and Spud they plan to sell a suitcase full of heroin. Renton
decides to walk away completely from everyone and takes the money they had with
him.

So
not a great recap of the plot but after a while I stopped fully paying attention.

The
cast was pretty good. Ewan McGregor I am not too much of a fan of, he was
alright. This was Kelly Macdonald’s first film she made. She was great. Her
character is a bit nuts. She is supposed to be fourteen years old (Macdonald
was nineteen when she got the part) and gets Renton to sleep with her and then
she blackmails him into keeping in touch with her. I had no idea Johnny Lee
Miller was really British before I looked him up for this movie. Apparently he
has played a lot of parts where he has had to be Scottish. Kevin McKidd is in
the film for a bit. I could not believe how different he looked. I am used to
seeing him on Grey’s Anatomy where he is a former soldier and has short cut
hair. He was good it was nice to see his range.

Trainspotting
was a very different kind of movie for me. I liked that it was fast paced right
from the beginning. You felt like you were genuinely in someone’s manic head.
The directing by Danny Boyle was very anti-establishment. The story and the
direction and the characters were dirty and disgusting. It was real and
unsettling there was no bullshitting with anything in this movie. So much of
what happens you (or maybe it was just me) do not see coming. It was genius
with how it was pro-drug use or anit-drugs it was just about people who were on
drugs there was no judgment. I like when a movie can keep me on my toes and
offer something different than what everyone else makes. Trainspotting definitely stands out as one of the most creative and
unsettling movies I have seen.

About Me

I am une cinephile to every inch of the word. I started this blog to share my love for movies and what I have learned about them along the way. I like and watch all kinds of movies. For the movie lover in all of you out there, I hope you enjoy this blog.